America's Radio City

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 52, 10 July 1931, Page 1

America's Radio City

Proposed Mammoth Block of Buildings lilustrates Important Place Radio is Taking in World Affairs

a 4 ‘ : ERHAPS no better illustration of the place radio i8 taking in world affairs could be given than by the fact that in the capitals of the three leading nations of the world -England, America and Germany mammoth buildings, costing millions of pounds, to house the headquarters of the various controlling radio companies, have either just been completed or are under construction. The latest and most . ambitious project yet announced is that of the proposed "Radio City" in New York. Some idea of the vastness of the undertaking is given when it is known that the estimated cost of the project is roughly £50,000,000! Perhaps the most curious feature of the design is that the lower 15 floors of the great cen‘tral skyscraper will be entirely without windows. And yet this is not due to cramping. On the other hand, the individual buildings are to be so placed as not to cut off one another’s light and air, and the proportion of window space in them will be considerably larger than in older structures. Nothe oddity comes about in this way. &: National Broadcasting Comis to occupy the lower 15 #téries, and for its purposes the air in that section is to be "conditioned,"’ as engineers call it. It

will be heated in winter, cooled in summer, and at all times filled with the right amount of moisture. In summer the air will not simply be cooled. This, when there is much humidity in the air, results in clamminess. As the temperature is reduced, the moisture is precipi- _ tated and collects about a room as it would gather on a pitcher of iced water in warm air. ‘To avoid clamminess, air will be driven through a spray of cold water, which will take out the excess moisture. It is calculated that from 1200 to 1500 tons of ice a day will be required ; to produce the cold spray. The methods by which the studio of the National Broadcasting Company will be made. soundproof are as spectacular as the way in ' which the air will be "reconditioned." There will be 27 of these studios, the smaller ones extending through two stories, and the larger ones through three. The reason for so many studios is not, of course, that they are needed for actual broadcasting in any single programme. But.an immense amount of rehearsal is necessary, and it takes time

to fix up a studio for a given ptrpose. Walls and ceilings have to be draped so that the acoustics will be right for a particular perform~ ance. What in radio jargon is called "room score" is as important ‘as musical score. ; Of each studio it may be said that it will be one room floating in another. The inside room, or studio proper, will be. suspended from the ceiling of the interior room by wires. In the space between the two rooms will be what the engineers call spring clips with rubber and felt insula~ tion. Sound absorption will be equally good in the doors and win- . dows-that is, interior windows. Doors will be leaden, two and & half inches thick. Windows will have triple panes of glass set it rubber. iw addition to thé generous provi sions for light and air in the officd buildings, special attention will bé paid to heating. This involves more difficulties in tall buildings than. the average person might imagine. A high building wher heated becomes a veritable flue or, chimney in cold weather. The hot air rises in the elevator shafts and cold draughts sift in through the windows of the lower floors to take its place. This action is likely to make the lower floors too

chilly at the same time that the upper ones are too warin. A different plan will be adopted in the high offices of Radio City. There all the windows will have double weather strips, consisting of double rows of flexible zinc pushed together by the outside air, so that the greater pressure of the latter becomes the more difficulty there will-be for it to get through. ; So far as artificial lighting in the building goes, that will be to the future judgment. of illuminating engineers. For the present the builders will content themselves by putting in an abundance of electric ducts. It is expected that there may be a specially heavy demand for electricity in the quarters of the National Broadcasting Company, if television is taken up. The important buildings of Radio City will be detached. This may surprise some who expected that they might be built, on each block at least, covering the space like a range of mountains with peaks and valleys. Instead, the buildings rise from (Concluded on page 2.)|

A Radio City

".. (Continued from page 1.) . the street level like buttes out of a south-western mesa. The reason for this may readily be appreciated when one considers the different purposes of the building. As a business proposition it seemed desirable to distribute the space between offices, stores and amusement houses, and each of these different purposes demanded different treatment. The only distinct attempt at continuity lies in the intention to preserve a single eolour scheme.